Horgen, September 22, 2009 - Schweiter Technologies has entered into an agreement with Rio Tinto Group to purchase the Alcan Composites business for USD 349 million (incl. interest-bearing liabilities). The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of year once the employee representatives have been consulted and the relevant competition authorities have given their approval.
Alcan Composites is the global market leader in core materials for sandwich constructions, particularly for use in wind farms. The company is also a leading player in other segments, such as composite panels for high-quality facades and display applications. Its best-known brands are Airex, Alucobond Baltek, Dibond, Forex, Gator, Kapa and Sintra.
The company’s head office is in Sins, in the Swiss canton of Aargau and it operates 16 production facilities in Germany, Switzerland, the US, South America, China and India. In 2008, pro forma consolidated sales reached USD 859 million and EBITDA came to USD 88 million. In the first eight months of the current year, Composites posted sales of USD 394 million and EBITDA totaling USD 36 million (before audit). Between 2006 and 2008, Composites grew by 20%. Its headcount stands at around 1,700 (excluding balsa operations in Ecuador), including 450 posts in Switzerland.
In future, Composites will be managed as a third independent division alongside SSM Textile Machinery and Ismeca Semiconductor. Business development is to be further accelerated. There will be no organizational or management changes. The CEO is Georg Reif, a 53-year old Swiss citizen with a degree in engineering (dipl. Ing.) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. The other nine management members were recruited from all over the world.
Alcan Composites has its origins in the former Alusuisse and Lonza, which played a pioneering role in the development of composite materials. After the merger of the two companies to form algroup, Alusuisse’s aluminum composite panels operations and Lonza’s foamed plastics business in Sins were combined into what then became Alusuisse Composites. Alusuisse was taken over by Alcan in 2000, and Alcan was in turn taken over by Rio Tinto in 2007.
Composites meets the criteria applied to acquisitions in terms of global market leadership, autonomy and growth opportunities and is a more attractive proposition than would be available to Schweiter’s shareholders in the event of a cash pay-out in the general market.
Within the Schweiter portfolio, as a supplier of consumer-type capital goods, it will balance out the cycles of the two existing divisions and any possible further acquisitions in the engineering sector. Once the transaction has been completed, Schweiter still expects to have liquidity totaling around CHF 300 million with a largely debt-free balance sheet. Other opportunities for acquisitions are being pursued.
In light of recent events, a media and analyst conference is to be held on:
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 1 pm at the Marriott Hotel Zurich, Neumühlequai 42, 8001 Zurich
Schweiter Technologies
www.schweiter.com
Schweiter Technologies, a Swiss company with a strong tradition, focuses activities on high-quality machine construction. The Group currently comprises the divisions SSM Textile Machinery and Ismeca Semiconductor. Shares of Schweiter Technologies are listed in the main segment of the SIX Swiss Exchange.
ISIN: CH0010754924 / Reuters: SWTZ / Bloomberg: SWTQ SW
Rio Tinto
www.riotinto.com, www.alcancomposites.com
Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the UK, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London and NYSE listed company, and Rio Tinto Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.